chess in art

When looking at works like James Tarr's (post#722) - so discernibly authentic to anyone who has been around chess players a bit, faces calm as they crane forward into the position bodies circling almost imperceptibly stiff with the efforts they make to hoist its possibilities into their minds, or other such notable traits - I sometimes can't help but wonder if the artist is so successful because they themselves are chess players or simply because they see something noteworthy to flesh out; they are almost equally feasible - but the question insists, which side of the gambit was (s)he playing! Not that it matters.